Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment allegations
, the 56th governor of New York, was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women starting in December 2020, with the accusations covering a range of alleged behavior. He denied all of the most serious accusations while acknowledging that he had been "insensitive or too personal" while attempting playful banter. On February 28, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she would hire and deputize a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations. On March 11, the New York State Assembly authorized an impeachment investigation into the allegations. In August 2021, James released an investigatory report that stated that Cuomo sexually harassed eleven women during his time in office, with actions such as unwanted groping, kissing and sexual comments. The controversy surrounding these allegations culminated in Governor Cuomo's resignation from office. Cuomo was replaced by his Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul.
The entire New York congressional delegation, including New York's two United States Senators, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and over 120 New York State legislators called for Cuomo's resignation, as did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President and Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City. President Joe Biden stated his support for Attorney General James's independent investigation; he later called on Cuomo to resign after the investigatory report was released. On August 10, Cuomo announced that he would step down from office in 14 days, making his resignation effective on August 24.
On January 4, 2022, Albany County District Attorney David Soares dropped a criminal complaint against Cuomo and also announced that Cuomo would not face any other charges related to other groping allegations, citing lack of evidence. Three days later, a judge dropped the criminal charge against Cuomo. On January 31, 2022, the last of five criminal cases that had been pursued against Cuomo were dismissed.
Sexual harassment allegations
Lindsey Boylan
In December 2020, Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and then a candidate for Manhattan Borough President, accused him in a series of tweets of sexual harassment and creating a toxic environment. The New York Times published a link to Boylan's lengthy essay in Medium wherein she accused Cuomo of sexual harassment and "described several years of uncomfortable interactions." She said she resigned in 2018 after "he forcibly kissed her during a meeting." She also alleged that "he had compared her to a former girlfriend, and asked her to play strip poker." Cuomo has denied these allegations. In an interview, Boylan said Cuomo's questions and comments about sexual issues made her conclude, "The governor's trying to sleep with me."On March 17, Boylan criticized Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie and the New York State Assembly's impeachment investigation, tweeting "What would be the point of survivors talking to investigators of your sham investigation @CarlHeastie?" Boylan cooperated with the Attorney General of New York's independent investigation, and met with the investigators on March 16.
In an article written by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, Boylan also claimed Cuomo made an inappropriate comment concerning his new dog, Captain. After a February 2018 news conference, Cuomo's dog, a Shepherd-Malamute mix, jumped up and down near her. Boylan claims that Cuomo said, if he were a dog, he would try to "mount" her as well. Boylan said she remembered "being grossed out" and that it was "a dumb third-grade thing to say". She did not respond to Cuomo's remark, and said in the article: "I just shrugged it off." A Cuomo spokesperson declined to comment.
Allegations of smearing and silencing Boylan
On March 16, 2021, The New York Times reported that after Boylan accused Cuomo in December 2020, an open letter was circulated by people close to the governor that they attempted to get former staffers to sign, which suggested that her accusation was planned and for political reasons, among others attempting to associate her name with supporters of Donald Trump. One source claimed that Cuomo himself was involved in its creation. The letter was never released. Boylan's personnel records were ultimately released to media organizations.The Wall Street Journal reported that after Boylan's accusations came out, Cuomo's office called at least six former aides with questions related to Boylan, including whether they had been in contact with her. Some of those who were contacted stated that they felt the calls were a form of intimidation.
Allegations of falsehoods by Boylan
In her book What's Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis, published in 2023, Cuomo's former aide Melissa DeRosa pushes back against many of Boylan's accusations, including that allegations of harassment did not come up either during her stint working for Cuomo's team or afterward, until suddenly she was tweeting about harassment.Charlotte Bennett
In late February 2021, Charlotte Bennett, an executive assistant and health policy advisor to Cuomo, accused him of sexual harassment, which included questions about her sex life. In a March 5 video interview with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell, Bennett said that during a one-on-one meeting in the governor's office on June 5, 2020, Cuomo implied "that I was old enough for him and he was lonely." Bennett went on to claim that Cuomo's office director took the state's mandatory sexual harassment training for him: "I was there. I heard say, 'I can't believe I'm doing this for you' and making a joke about the fact that she was completing the training for him. And then I heard her at the end ask him to sign the certificate."Anna Ruch
In early March 2021, a third accuser, Anna Ruch, a member of the Obama administration, said that when they were speaking at a wedding reception Cuomo put a hand on her back, that she removed it, and that he then placed his hands on her face cheeks and asked if he could kiss her. A friend photographed Cuomo touching her face.Ana Liss
On March 6, 2021, Ana Liss, a policy and operations aide to Cuomo from 2013 to 2015, became the third former aide to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment. Liss said Cuomo called her "sweetheart", touched her on her lower back while they were at a reception, and also once kissed her hand after she stood up from her desk.Karen Hinton
Also on March 6, Karen Hinton, a former press aide for Cuomo when he served as the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said that in 2000, Cuomo had, while meeting with her in a California hotel room, hugged her in an "inappropriate" and "unethical" embrace. Hinton has more recently worked for Cuomo rival New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.Brittany Commisso
On March 9, 2021, the Times Union of Albany reported an anonymous member of the governor's Executive Chamber staff had accused Cuomo of inappropriate touching. On March 11, the same newspaper reported she said Cuomo called her to his mansion, reached under her blouse, and fondled her. Cuomo denied the allegation.On April 7, 2021, an unnamed executive assistant to Cuomo alleged that she had been called to the governor's mansion in November 2020 to help Cuomo troubleshoot an issue with his phone. Cuomo allegedly groped her. After the aide told him his behavior would "get us in trouble", Cuomo then shut the door, said "I don't care", and groped one of her breasts. A month later she claimed that Cuomo told her to cover up what had occurred. Her identity was revealed on August 8, 2021, as Brittany Commisso.